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- A deep, conspiracy driven storyline set in a realistic recreation of New York City that delve into the true nature of Alex Mercer’s power and his part in a conspiracy 40 years in the making.
- Fast and deadly shape-shifting combat that allows players to reconfigure body parts into offensive and defensive items like claws, blades, hammers, whips, shields and armor.
- Use of advanced sensory powers like thermal vision and infected vision to track your enemies and keep the action going.
- Fluid, over-the-top locomotion and agility based on real-life Parkour movement styles that allows you to bound from building to building, run up walls, bounce off cars and everything in your path.
- Unique disguising abilities derived from Alex’s ability to “consume” characters, and in doing so acquire their appearance, memories and special abilities.
Product Description
You are the PROTOTYPE, Alex Mercer, hiding in human form. You step out onto the streets of New York with no memory but limitless power. As a terrifying viral epidemic sweeps across Manhattan, top-secret Black Watch Special Forces move in, transforming it into a war zone. Delve into the mysteries of your origin, the true nature of your power and your part in a conspiracy 40 years in the making… More >>
12/12/2009 at 8:10 am
She: “Oh my god. This is the most violent thing I’ve ever seen. Why are you crushing all those people?”
Me: “No! Watch this. Even if I tried to steer the tank around them, real slow like…”
[demostrating...]
“Look, they keep running in front of the tank. They are stupid! Plus if I get out of the tank and kill enough them for the purposes of eating, I get to do this thing where I look like I am going to take a dump, except instead of s**t, tendrils shoot out of my head and impales everyone in a 20ft radius.”
She: [speechless]
Rating: 4 / 5
12/12/2009 at 8:22 am
I’ll say this right off: If you own Hulk: Ultimate Destruction or a Spider-Man game, then you can probably pass up on this game because it is practically the same type of gameplay. However, this game does not have a MARVEL label and can be considered an original piece of work.
-Graphics. The overall look of the game is good. Manhattan island is replicated beautifully, and it shows. If you need to figure out where Gold’s Gym is, just have Alex Mercer (the Prototype) jump around the city until you find the sign. Then maybe you can find it while you’re driving around! However, some textures seemed stretched or PS2-esque when you look closely. However, this can be somewhat forgiven as the city looks gorgeous when looked at from a tall building.
The animations are smooth and well done. From Alex running over cars and up buildings, to the solider that was just the victim of a Patsy maneuver, to the simple pedestrian puking their guts out because of the virus, everyone seems to come to life, regardless of the outdated graphics.
-Gameplay. I will admit, I was a bit surprised as to the simplicity of the controls. My original thoughts were that you would need more buttons than one could fit on a blackberry just to pull off some of the stunts. But with a nice upgrade system and button layout, wreaking havoc on the army is a breeze that looks fantastic. Some moves don’t need to be bought to beat the game (in fact, a lot of them don’t even need investing into), but its just fun to watch you uppercut someone into the air and then grab them in mid-air and slam them into the ground. And in case you forgot how to do that one move you love performing in front of your friends, the skill-purchase screen gives a wonderful diagram that tells you what to push in what order.
-Story. Let’s face it, the people who buy this game are in it for the action and chaos. However, if you pay attention to what is going on in the life of the protagonist, you may find yourself CARING and WONDERING how the virus got to this point. To enhance the story and make you care, the game shells out people that contain memories vital to Alex Mercer’s own mind. Apparently he has some kind of amnesia, so instead of waiting for the effects to tide over he simply abosorbs the people that know something about him. The more memories you collect, the more the puzzle fits together, and the more you want to absorb to find things out…and the more tanks that get destroyed when they kill someone that has a vital memory you need.
-Other Comments. I enjoy this game very much, regardless of what others may think. This is just an opinion that you don’t have to listen to. In the end, you will have to play the game yourself to see if you like it or not.
Also, I would like for people to consider this when talking about the graphics: should under-par graphics get in the way of an enjoyable experience? That’s like saying a super model is ugly because she’s wearing a hand-me-down dress from her mother’s side in the 50′s. A game’s replay value should not be based on graphics alone. Besides, texture loading and framerate would be major issues if released with next-gen graphics. Mass Effect had that problem, Gears of War had it, and so did GTA IV.
Overall, the game is great. [PROTOTYPE] is one of those games that sticks with you until you beat it, then you want to start over to see if you can beat it on hard mode or try a different skill set. The only major downside is that there is no multiplayer. Period. If you want co-op action as you run down the streets of a fear-stricken neighborhood, go play Crackdown.
Rating: 4 / 5
12/12/2009 at 9:13 am
If you didn’t get too caught up in the hype and don’t come into this game thinking that’s it’s going to be the best game ever, you’ll love it. It has very stylized superhero-type action, loads of ways to wreak havoc in Manhattan, and a sandbox world in which you can achieve your goals in many different ways.
Considering I’m playing on an Xbox 360, the graphics are nothing noteworthy, but if I were looking for awesome graphics I would be playing it on a PC. The voice acting is top notch, as is the storyline. It’s admittedly pretty predictable, but honestly, it’s so much fun that I don’t really care. The controls take some time to get used to, as there are so many things you can do and not enough buttons on the controller. Once you master the learning curve, it’s a blast.
Alex Mercer’s powers provide more fun than should ever be allowed. You can slice and dice some fools with claws or an armsword (that’s what I call it, anyway), glide from rooftop to rooftop, turn your arm into a grappling hook and take down a helicopter, and consume NPCs for powers and/or health bonuses, among many other things. One of the most notable aspects is Alex’s ability to run straight up buildings, which of course makes everyone think of Spiderman. Somehow, this is way cooler though. Also, you would think that this game would get boring with all of the powerful bio-weapons. However, you’ll find that some powers work better than others depending on what you’re fighting. This keeps you up on your toes, and believe me, this game can be a challenge at times.
For we collector and exploration nerds, there are plenty of orbs for us to obtain throughout the city. Some are simply landmark orbs, others give us hints, but from my experience these hints have been things that I’ve found out previously just through gameplay. They don’t really do anything other than to give you experience points with which you buy more upgrades.
I do have a few grievances, but nothing that takes away from the enjoyment of the game. Loading screens feel rather frequent, but they are short enough that I don’t get annoyed. The camera can do some pretty stupid things sometimes as well, but really only in confined spaces like tunnels. The scenery can be repetitious at times, save for some of the major landmarks like Central Park and Times Square. However, the constantly changing city and citizens make up for it. Also, Pedestrian Bowling (what I call sprinting through the sidewalks knocking down all of the NPCs) is a hoot. As I mentioned before, the controls are a bit awkward at first, but you soon learn to adjust.
As long as you don’t put ridiculously high expectations on this game, you’ll enjoy it. After all, we play video games to have fun. If you want to play it, ignore whatever hype you’ve heard and just enjoy it for what it is.
Rating: 4 / 5
12/12/2009 at 9:56 am
overall, this game is pretty good. but everything good about it was already made. anyone who has played hulk: ultimate destruction can tell ya this game is basically that one reskinned. everything was great about hulk is still great about prototype but almost everything they’ve added is not that great or flat out bad.
Alex mercer the main character is wholely unlikable. not only is he dressed like a tool but he acts like one. they play the damaged victim card from the start of the game, wronged in some unnamed way by a large corporation he must protect his sister and find out who he is. but the sheer numbers on civilian casualties and collateral damage make it hard to feel for the guy. he’s a super powered whiney punk so you can’t really get into his shoes.
there’s a ton and a half of collectibles landmark collectibles, hint collectibles(hints that if you’ve ever played a game before you already know), web of interest nodes and tons of upgrades for your character. it seems like activision could’ve spent more time actually working on the game and the story and less time on the little useless bs.
Rating: 3 / 5
12/12/2009 at 10:16 am
Yes this game looks like other mass destruction games but that is where the similarities end my friend. Through out the game you are faced with new challenges on how to keep the military away from you and people you know. To do this you are giving various abilities: super strength, claws, disguising yourself by consuming others (thats right you absorb people into yourself), etc. I had a lot of fun playing this game. Its bloody, violent, everything one needs to release stress after a hard days work.
Rating: 5 / 5